Go! Puzzle Review

Three puzzle games in one.

Last year, PS3 owners were the first gamers to get their hands on Go! Puzzle, a humble collection of three different puzzle games packaged into one downloadable title. Now, PSP owners have the same opportunity because Go! Puzzle is available on both the PC PlayStation Store and the PlayStation Network. If you wanted a handheld version of the title, it's available for $5.99, regardless of where you purchase it. The real question at hand is how it compares to its console predecessor and if it's worthy of a home on Sony's shiny portable. Let's take a look at what Go! Puzzle -- a game that's clearly trying to invoke some excitement -- is bringing to the table.

For those of you who own the original PS3 version of Go! Puzzle, I can tell you right now that there's really no reason to purchase this version, unless you have a passionate desire to take it on the road. Go! Puzzle for the PSP is virtually identical to the PS3 version, except the expected loss of graphical fidelity and a few odd performance issues, which I'll touch on shortly. This really is just the same game brought to the PSP, so don't download it if you have it already.

If you're new to the Go! Puzzle scene, let me lay out the basics. Go! Puzzle is actually just a collection of three separate puzzle games that can be accessed from a hub menu. Your choices include Swizzle Blocks, Aquatica and Skyscraper. Swizzle Blocks revolves around a field of colored (wait for it...) blocks that need to be cleared. You move a cursor around the field and you can rotate the four blocks around your cursor in either direction, as if you were controlling the axle of a wheel. In order to clear the blocks, you just need to match up four like-colored units in a 2 x 2 pattern. Any connecting block of the same color will also be cleared, until you've eliminated all the colors from the board.

Aquatica is a bit simpler to grasp. Multi-colored mines fall from the top of the screen and start filling up your play space (just like that good ol' Tetris). The challenge comes from the fact that the mines fall into diagonal patterns, and you need to clear like-colored mines in vertical or diagonal rows.

Lastly, we have Skyscraper. The goal: work your way up a tower by clearing the colored pattern of each floor. You need to move from left to right along colored panels. Once you've stepped on one color, you can only step (or hop) to the same color and you must pass over each panel of that color to properly clear the floor. These games sound far more complex than they are, considering the fact that all of them only take a few minutes to learn and are based on universally recognizable puzzle themes and structures.

Each game in Go! Puzzle offers several modes, including standard challenges, competitions against an AI opponent, puzzles and multiplayer options. Although one could spend a long time describing the intricacies of each game, the most important question one should pose is how fun these games are and if they run well. I'll be honest when I admit that Aquatica is not only uninspiring but highly unsatisfying. Even though it's built just like countless other Tetris clones, I couldn't get into it and would easily label it as the weakest member of the collection. It doesn't look good or feel right and should be avoided.

Far more entertaining is Swizzle Blocks, which offers better gameplay than Aquatica. There's way more strategic potential here and the available modes diversify the experience nicely. The puzzles in Swizzle Blocks require a pretty mind-bending amount of thought because you only have a set number of rotations to clear the entire board. The nice thing, however, is being able to take your time and experiment with different methods, because the puzzles aren't timed.

Skyscraper = the business.

The highlight of Go! Puzzle is Skyscraper. I had the most fun with this one and regard it as the best of the bunch. It's rewarding to work your way across each floor, as well as deal with all the special panels like teleport points and conveyer belts. I would almost go so far as to say that Skyscraper alone is worth the $5.99; though having two extra games is still a treat.

Lastly, the Go! Puzzle games can be played via ad hoc or you can send a short demo of any of the three games to a UMDless friend. As far as I can tell, the multiplayer functionality worked just fine for all three items and we didn't have any problems connecting.

The real issues with Go! Puzzle are the load times and the slowdown. Despite the fact that Go! Puzzle is a small puzzler being loaded directly off a memory stick, jumping into and out of the main hub page takes a long time. That means switching between games is a chore, which is a shame for a collection.

More problematic is the slowdown, which is present in all three titles. Go! Puzzle was clearly not optimized for the PSP, because the entire experience feels laggy and unresponsive. I'm not going to call it "game-breaking," but it really hurts what should be an otherwise quick and clean puzzle experience.

The Verdict

Despite Aquatica being so weak, Go! Puzzle is still a fine collection. Swizzle Blocks and Skyscraper are good titles and the different game modes will prolong your engagement with the package. For $5.99, Go! Puzzle is a fair deal -- I just wish it ran like the PS3 version. Only download this one if you have a craving for puzzlers.